Helaena Targaryen
Queen Helaena Targaryen was a Queen Consort of the House Targaryen dynasty. Biography ]] Helaena Targaryen was the daughter of Viserys I Targaryen and his second wife Alicent Hightower, and the sister of the future Aegon II Targaryen and Aemond Targaryen. She was also the half-sister of Rhaenyra Targaryen from her father's first marriage to Aemma Arryn. At some point, she became the wife of her eldest brother (which was common for the Targaryens in order to keep bloodlines "pure"). When her father was on his deathbed, he announced that his eldest child Rhaenyra would be Queen. However, Alicent firmly disagreed and proclaimed Aegon as King. This therefore lead to Helaena becoming Queen Consort of the Seven Kingdoms. This later lead to a rebellion between her half-sister and her eldest brother/husband that would be known as the Dance of the Dragons, in which Aegon would set up loyalists to the crown known as the Greens, whilst Rhaenyra set up a rebellious faction known as the Blacks. She gave birth to three of Aegon's children Jaehaerys, Jaehaera and Maelor. During the rebellion, Daemon Targaryen hired two murderers, known as Blood and Cheese, to avenge the death of Rhaenyra's son, Lucerys Velaryon. One was a former Gold Cloak and the other was a rat catcher from Flea Bottom who knew every part of Maegor's holdfast. After breaking into the Red Keep, they demanded that Helaena choose which of her sons she would rather have dead, at the very minute she was putting her sons and daughter to bed. Whilst her sons were at knife-point, Helaena begged that they kill her instead, but Blood and Cheese refused. Faced with this ultimatum, Helaena named her youngest son Maelor as the victim of the assassins. Some believed that this was because he was too young to understand, but others believed that is was due to Jaehaerys being the heir to Aegon's throne. Cheese then told Maelor that he was unwanted by his mother. However, Blood then struck off the head of Jaehaerys with a single blow. By the time that the guards came to the bedroom, they found Helaena screaming, driven mad by grief, still clasping her child's corpse. This therefore made the war take a drastic turn, making it become an annihilation of bloodshed on Aegon's part. When Rhaenyra came to King's Landing on the back of her dragon, the Small Council surrendered Alicent and Helaena. After Rhaenyra finally took the throne from Aegon, resulting in his disappearance, Helaena flung her from the Red Keep, and was impaled on iron spikes that lined the moat. Her brother/husband would later regain his kingship, but her nephew Aegon would later become King, due to the deaths of all her children."The Dance of Dragons (Histories & Lore)" Family tree Quotes In the books In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Helaena Targaryen was the second daughter of King Viserys I Targaryen by his only daughter by his second wife Queen Alicent Hightower, born in 109 AC. As a child, she was plumper and less striking than most members of House Targaryen, but was pleasant and happy nonetheless and beloved by the smallfolk as she grew older. She became a dragonrider by age twelve, with Dreamfyre as her steed. At thirteen, she was married to her older brother Aegon II Targaryen. Barely a year later, she gave birth to the twins Jaehaerys and Jarhaera. On the first day of 127 AC, King Viserys held a feast to celebrate his healthy recovery. The court fool Mushroom claimed that once the king had left the feast, Helaena's nephew, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, asked her to dance, which her brother and husband Aegon took offence to. Later that same year Helaena gave birth to her third child, Maelor. On the third day of the third month of 129 AC, Helaena brought her children to see their grandfather as he lay on his deathbed. He entertained them with a fictional tale about great-great-grandfather King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Helaena was informed of her father's death the day after his body was discovered. She became queen when her husband Aegon was crowned king, with her mother Alicent placing a crown upon her head and calling her "my Queen". Helaena's older half-sister Rhaenyra Targaryen, whom Viserys had intended to be his successor on the Iron Throne, refused to accept Aegon as her king and crowned herself as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms on Dragonstone. Rhaenyra declared Queen Alicent and her father Ser Otto Hightower to be traitors, but expressed willingness to forgive Helaena and her children if they came to Dragonstone and swore fealty to her. Grand Maester Orwyle suggested traveling to Dragonstone to convince Rhaenyra to give up her claim, which Helaena and Alicent spoke in favor of, and Aegon agreed to send him to Dragonstone under a peace banner. Rhaenyra refused to give up her claim and the Dance of the Dragons broke out. Helaena would bring her children to her mother's chambers in the Tower of the Hand each night before putting them to bed. A former Gold Cloak known as Blood and a rat-catcher known as Cheese were aware of this fact and were hired by Prince Daemon Targaryen to murder one of Helaena's sons. They hid in Alicent's bedchambers, bound and gagged her and murdered her bedmaid. Upon Helaena's arrival, they killed her guardsmen and barred the door, taking Helaena her children hostage. They ordered her to choose which of her sons would die. She offered herself, but they refused and Blood threatened to rape Jaehaera and kill all three children if they Helaena did not make a decision. She reluctantly chose Maelor, whom she deemed too young to understand the situation, but the men killed Jaehaerys instead. Following this, Helaena fell into depression and later descended into depression. She refused to eat, drink or leave her bedchambers and could no longer look at her surviving son Maelor, consumed by the guilt of knowing she had named him to die. Helaena and Aegon slept apart after Jaehaerys' murder and she did not even come to visit him after he was injured in the Siege of Rook's Rest. She was taken hostage by the Blacks following the Fall of King's Landing. At age twenty-one, Helaena jumped from her window in Maegor's Holdfast and was impaled on the spikes below. That knight the smallfolk rioted through King's Landing demanding justice of the beloved Helaena and her dead sons. See also * References de:Helaena Targaryen ru:Хелейна Таргариен pl:Helaena Targaryen Category:Queens Category:Ladies Category:Nobility Category:Greens Category:Valyrians Category:Crownlanders Category:Members of House Targaryen Category:Deceased individuals